As a result of a thousand million years of evolution, the universe is becoming conscious of itself, able to understand something of its past history and its possible future.-- Sir Julian Sorell Huxley FRS

I applied to this agency 3 times, in 2000-2003, and never was funded. My first proposal was not even reviewed (they have this principle of dividing all proposals into the "upper half" and "lower half" based on rather arbitrary parameters, and then review only the "upper half," throwing what they consider the "lower half" into trash without any review). My second proposal was in the "upper half," but received a bad score. My third proposal was in the "upper half" and received a decent score, but, by that time, the funding of anything not related to the "war against terror" had been greatly reduced and my proposal was not funded, even though praised. After that, I lost all hope and decided not to deal with the NIH ever again.

Anyway... Lord, have mercy on Your servant, help him, support him, give him strength and wisdom in these tough times!

"For, by its immensity, the divine substance surpasses every form that our intellect reaches. Thus we are unable to apprehend it by knowing what it is. Yet we are able to have some knowledge of it by knowing what it is not." - St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra gentiles, I, 14.